Near the border of the Forbidden Forest

"Well, I'll go ahead and pump the other tires. We could take turns with one at the pump and the other looking around to see what else could be done." Indiana replied before looking back into the interior. "I don't know if trying to fix those dents would cause further stress buildup to the metal. I kind of wish there was a way to add some magical shielding or some enchantment onto Elise to give her better protection from collisions."

"There probably is a way," Shelby said, deciding that while Indiana pumped, she could finish cleaning underneath the seats, "But we wouldn't be able to do it. Not yet, at least," she remembered the strict rule against performing any magic that they had not learned in class. "It won't really be necessary as long as Elise stays out of the Forest. Or at least, the dangerous parts. She's bound to know by now where she can go without getting attacked and where she can't."

Shelby opened a door and looked under the seat again. "There's all sorts of stuff down here," she said, happily extracting an old Fillibuster Firework. "I'm going to have to send this to Max. He loves old junk like this," she grinned and set the firework safely out of harms way.

"I just hope some of the dangerous creatures don't come after her for payback." Indiana remarked as he continued to pump the current tire, knowing that there are two more left to go.

"I wonder what will be next after Elise is fixed up. Where does she go from here?" Indiana spoke, the thought came to his mind just right at that moment. He had placed a lot of attention to fixing the car that the youth neglected to ponder on what was next in Elise's future.

"She could go wherever she likes, except in muggle areas unless someone is sitting in the driver's seat," she laughed softly, imagining the look on a muggle's face if he saw Elise rambling along a street in London without a driver.

"She could stay here on the lawn, she could try to find the Weasleys, she could go to Hogsmeade, she could follow one of us home when we go home for Christmas. She could go back into the Forbidden Forest, get beat up again and come out in another forty years to have some other first years fix her up," the engine revved softly in displeasure, "Okay, perhaps not that last one," Shelby laughed again.

Indiana chuckled a bit.

"Well, Elise has some freedom of movement." the youth remarked as he checked the tire, seeing that it was full before moving to the next tire and began pumping air. It took quite some time before the meter reached 30 PSI but by then, Indiana felt his arms were burning from the physical labor. Spreading his arms wide, the youth stretched them with a few extension exercises to release the tension in them.

"I burned my arms." Indiana muttered as he sat the air nuzzle onto the conduit of the last tire that needed air. "Shelby, are you up to filling the last tire?"

Shelby looked up when he spoke, surprised at how quickly he had filled two of the tires. "Sure," she replied, "As long as you're up for finding somewhere get rid of all this trash," she looked at the rather large pile of things that had been under the seats ranging from old bits of parchment to something small and furry that she was fairly certain had once been alive. "Everything except the Firework, that is."

She went to the last tire and began to pump air into it, determined to do it as fast as Indiana had done.

Indiana flinched at the amount of trash that Shelby had managed to remove from the interior of the car. Seeing the firework, Indiana left it alone before moving the amount of junk and piling them next to the boulder covering the hole that he closed off earlier after discarding the glass shards.

Taking his wand out, the youth pointed at the boulder. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The tip of his wand glowed and the boulder began to levitate a bit off the ground, uncovering the hole. Indiana then kicked the pile of trash down the hole until all of it had vanished into the darkness underneath the earth before dispelling the Levitation Charm off the boulder, which fell back down and sealed the opening shut with a small crash.

He then turned and headed back to the car before picking up the firework and placing on the hood.

"Where do you buy these fireworks at?" Indiana asked.

Shelby exhaled loudly as she pumped air into the tire. "Well, you can't get those fireworks anywhere anymore. Filibuster's went out of business when my dad was in school. You can get similar ones at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley. They have all sorts of great stuff there." Shelby loved talking about the joke shop, it was her favorite place to go in Diagon Alley, besides Flourish and Blott's, the bookshop.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked. "Are you planning on setting off a crate of them during dinner one day or something?" she laughed.

Indiana chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, I'd rather not lose points and face the wrath of the other Hufflepuffs, though I wonder if the teachers could still deduct points during the break even though term isn't in session. Perhaps during the winter holidays, it might be fun to set some off from the top of the tower on Christmas night."

Shelby stopped pumping for a minute. She honestly didn't know if teachers could or would take points off if it was during the break. "That would be fun," she agreed. "Wait, Christmas night? Aren't you going home for the holidays?" she asked. From what her father had told her, not many students stayed at Hogwarts during their winter break.

"Oh, I'll be heading home during the holidays this year." Indiana replied. "I was thinking about the holidays during the following years down the road. If by chance that May is on duty and Nonette can't look after me during the holidays on one or two of those remaining years of my schooling here, I might find myself staying at Hogwarts during that time."

"Who is Nonette?" Shelby asked as she finished pumping air into the final tire. She checked that it was at 30 PSI as she had seen Indiana do with the others and patted Elise.

"All done, Elise. Now your tires are all as good as new," she went to go stand by Indiana. "I think that's all we can do, unless you plan on checking her oil or something."

"Nonette Alstreim. She's one of May's closest friends that I mentioned earlier that nearly killed herself over a breakup and betrayal had my older sister not intervened." Indiana replied. "Sometime after our parents passed away, Nonette invited May and I to stay with her. But recently, her job in the Terra-Forming Protocol that is chiefly run in the United States has her and her colleagues sometimes traveling over there for information exchange and technological discussions with the Americans." Indiana replied before watching Shelby finish up.

"If Elise managed to last this long, I doubt I would need to check her oil. Car engines these days are running on synthetic oil." the youth spoke. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to check. Elise, can you open the hood and let me check your oil? It might confirm if your magic is keeping it in a renewed state."

The hood slowly opened and Indiana calmly peered in before finding the oil dipstick and pulling it out. The youth took a napkin out of his pocket before wiping it clean and placing it back into its slot. Indiana waited for a few seconds before pulling the oil dipstick out. A slightly dark golden brown residue covered everything between the two indicator bars at the endmost section and even touched the engraved word "FULL."

"Well, I guess the owner must have figure out some aspects to engine maintenance. The oil still looks new or probably has a really, really long life due to Elise's magic."

Shelby patted the car. "See Elise, you're doing so much better," she looked over at Indiana and said, "You know, we make a good team," she smiled at him before looking back down at the car.

"Now what are you going to do, Elise? Is it one of the things I listed earlier? Wipers for no, headlights for yes."

The headlights flickered on.

"Indeed." Indiana replied in agreement while returning Shelby's smile with his own. "Well, I think we both did as much as we could for now. Just pray that none of the students attempt to try to drive or fly Elise around the school or beyond the grounds."

The youth then turned to the car. "Well, whatever you decide, try to stay out of trouble, Elise. Perhaps tomorrow, I'll come back and see if I can wash the rust and stain marks off."

Elise's engine revved softly as though purring.

Shelby laughed. "Elise, you are five hundred times cooler than everyone else at school's pets," she said. For a moment, she was worried that Elise would take offense at her words, since it did sound as though Shelby meant that she and Indiana owned the car. But Elise made no noise, so Shelby figured that Elise either knew that she had not meant that or that she didn't mind.

"Maybe I'll bring some more people by to meet you some time," she said softly, "Would you like that?" The engine revved softly again. "So much cooler than everyone's pets," Shelby repeated, grinning.

"More than a magical car. Elise is a very good friend. Well, Elise. It was nice meeting you and we certainly enjoyed helping you out. Just take it easy and don't rush at things." Indiana spoke.

Elise blinked her headlights a few times before her engine revved up. The car slowly turned and drove softly back into the Forbidden Forest but before the sound of music could be heard astonishingly coming from the radio inside the car.

Indiana's expression turned into one of shocking surprise. "Elise has some strange taste in music."

Shelby was almost to the castle when she smacked herself on the forehead and turned around suddenly. She had forgotten that old firework she'd found.

She jogged back to where she and Indiana had been working on Elise and saw the firework laying on the ground. She picked it up, mumbling, "Max, you're lucky I love you. Otherwise you would not be getting such a cool present," she stashed it in her bag and headed up to the Owlry to send her brother a letter and the ancient firework.

Lauren walked with Resa and Shelby to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. This was the closest she had ever been to the forest, and was slightly scared of being so close. At least she had Resa and Shelby with her, so they could help fight against any monsters that came out to eat her. She looked around, "So... Where's the car?"

"That's a good question," Shelby said. She peered into the trees but didn't see anything. "I'm not sure how to get her to come. I guess I could try calling her."

"Elise," Shelby listened for a moment but heard nothing. "Elise?" she called louder.

She heard a soft engine revving and smiled as the car appeared at the edge of the trees. Elise seemed to hesitate a little. "It's okay, Elise. This is my friend Lauren, she wanted to come meet you."

She coaxed the car to come further onto the lawn and slowly but surely, Elise got closer to them. Shelby patted the hood gently and finished her introductions, "Lauren, this is Elise," she grinned.

Lauren looked as the car came into view. Lauren slowly walked towards it. "Hi Elise," Lauren said and slowly reached out her hand to touch the hood of the car. "Wow. So what did you and Indiana do to fix the car?" Lauren asked. "It... She looks pretty good."

"Not as much as I'd like," Shelby said, letting her hand slide over several of the bumps and dents in Elise's hood. "We put air in her tires, cleaned out the junk underneath her seats and took care of the glass around the edges where her windows used to be. Indiana checked to make sure that her oil was okay, too. I'd like to get rid of these dents, but Indiana said it might do more damage than good. We might try to get some of the rust off though, at some point."

Shelby turned her head to look at Lauren, "You can ask her some questions if you'd like, as long as it's a yes or no question. She'll turn on her wipers for no and flick her headlights for yes," Shelby smiled.

Lauren glanced at the car once more, "She answers questions?" Lauren asked skeptically. "Ok... Umm. Elise, do you mind that I'm here?" She asked the car, feeling very silly, but then again, this was Hogwarts, and anything was possible. The car's windscreen wipers went off from one side of the screen to the other. "Oh," Lauren said smiling, "Well, I guess she doesn't mind me here then!" Lauren smiled at the car, and said, "Thanks. It's nice to meet you."

Shelby grinned. She was glad that Elise had accepted Lauren, because even though Elise was a car, it was important to Shelby that her friends accepted each other. "Elise, would you believe me if I told you that Lauren was a crazy, boy loving zombie?" she asked in a teasing voice that made it clear that the question was more meant to taunt Lauren than for Elise to answer.

The cars engine revved softly in a few short bursts, sounding almost like laughter. The headlights flickered on. "See Lauren, even Elise knows it," she giggled.

Lauren blushed as Shelby asked the question of her being a boy loving zombie, and blushed even harder when the car replied that she believed Shelby. "That's no fair! Elise, would you believe me if I told you that Shelby's intentions with Sun were more than friendship?" Lauren asked with the same teasing tone that Shelby had adopted when she asked the car her question.

Elise's headlights flashed once more, and Lauren burst out laughing. "Ha!" Lauren said, "Elise knows all!"